Editorial

Over the past decade Identity Management has become a central theme in information technology, policy, and administration in the public and private sectors. In these contexts the term ‘Identity Management’ is used primarily to refer to ways and methods of dealing with registration and authorization issues regarding persons in organizational and service-oriented domains. Especially due to the growing range of choices and options for, and the enhanced autonomy and rights of, employees, citizens, and customers, there is a growing demand for systems that enable the regulation of rights, duties, responsibilities, entitlements and access of innumerable people simultaneously. ‘Identity Management’ or ‘Identity Management Systems’ have become important headings under which such systems are designed and implemented. But there is another meaning of the term ‘identity management’, which is clearly related and which has gained currency. This second construal refers to the need to manage our moral identities and our identity related information. This paper explores the relation between the management of our (moral) identities and ‘Identity Management’ as conceptualized in IT discourse.     

编辑人语

林毅夫在不久前说:"中国经济至少还可以保持20年8%左右的增长"。无独有偶,国务院参事牛文元也在青海新能源发展论坛上说:"中国(经济)可以继续高速增长二十年"。牛先生解释说:"要破解经济中断、停滞这种问题的法宝并不稀奇,就是经济发展方式的转变。发展方式的转变必然是把原来高消耗、高污染、高投入的方式变成低消耗、清洁的、节省能源和资源的,并且压力也越来越小的方式。"人们往往对于身在其中的时代不熟悉,对于身处其中的变革不知觉。要到时过境迁,由后人评说。而先知们,如果不能有幸被膜拜,多半是要被火烧死。因为害怕被烧死,有些先知便隐身于市井了。